A man stood next to me

A man stood next to me last night in the midsts of a dance - we were in truth using the hand basins in the lavatories at a London dance venue. I shall call him Dave.

"How long have you been dancing?"

"6 years I think" I replied

"Me too, great innit"

"Yes, I..."

He interrupts

"Saved my life, was gonna top myself, this stopped me, turned me round"

I turn to face him, he continued

"Was ready to put a gun in mouth, really down"

"Remarkable" I said

"Dancin' saved my life"

He carried on..I listened intently as this complete stranger told me the bare bones of his story. I told him mine, an inadequate quid pro quo but his point resonants not with mine but with a sentiment I hold dear that there's something about music and moving to that music which short circuits the minds of troubled people. It is a direct attack on the brain's neurochemistry in which so many people find relief. It is a drug of mystical powers.

"What's your name?"

"Stephen"

"Dave, I'll chat to you later"

"Very nice to meet you"

A chance encounter and a powerful story - one of many I've heard - one of many I''d like to collect. His is fierce testimony to the power of this balm. It is offered as therapy in some places, it should be in our schools, hospitals and care centres. It is and remains to me, as near to magic as I can go.

Would REALLY appreciate comments on this entry - so that others can see stories of dance.

76 Views 11/05/14

Comments - transfered from older blog

Comments

Southport Weekender - June 2017

Southport June 2017 A glance at the cars parked at this Southport showed an more affluent group in attendance than in my early years here. Sure enough a quick scan of the photos shows a higher average age. The dance floors are emptying earlier in the evening, the fastest tracks are not as fast as the early years of Ceroc and the young people are in a distinct minority. The dynamics have changed too. The teachers and their demos mandated to do cabarets, power hours and earn money were understandably more scare on the dance floor. Their work takes priority over their pleasure. Their job is different nowadays - I think it takes it's toll. But there were plenty of GREAT dancers there. Pontin's staff were on the whole jollier. Our chalet was clean(ish) but the floor was a maze of tree roots - Middle Earth self-catering - one wonders if the entire block will need to come down! The weather was due to be dreadful - a potent burst of optimism on ...

A Social Dance?

A weekend at Ceroc Southport reminds me that modern jive is a social dance...but only sometimes. This account of a Ceroc dance weekend will be my last as the waves of positivity and utter claptrap overwhelm me elsewhere in reviews on the internet and in social media. There were some very good bits to this weekender. I enjoyed it a great deal. Many of the songs in many of the sets in the Boudoir were very good, too few of the dancers did them justice, because there's the problem and here's my take on it. The trend toward slower, simplified music drags dancers down to a place where dancing is merely moving on the beat. Some songs subsist on a diet lacking harmonic complexity, syncopation, melodic line over a dozen or so bars or intricate instrumentation. This low calorie music is not the realm of the 20th Century minimalist composers like Adams and Reich, but a series of predictable notes which sound right even in the wrong order ( pace Morecambe and Wise). Swi...

2017 begins - two weekenders

Southport: Swing It's rather sad to see how much of a blog post written 8 months ago still rings true after a weekend at the Fylde seaside in turbulent February weather and after a sunny sojourn to the Sussex border in March. I last wrote about Southport here (last June) http://mindpokedance.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/summer-ceroc-southport-2016.html about such matters as the Pontin's upkeep of the site which this time was I think worse for the winter lay off. Some chalets were filthy. The site was a bit of a wreck - in our block there was a cable partially rolled up at the bottom of the stairs! Sodden tissues of unknown origin scattered around the bins and bits of the shuttering on our block blew off during the stay. By contrast the chalet at Camber was in better nick except for the much missed sofa bed which suffered from an unfortunate stuffing droop similar to the one the Scottish Rugby team exhibited on the Saturday afternoon. This Southpo...

Mindpoke dance

Search This Blog